They Threw Me Away at Twelve, So I Came Home Undefeated novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Doctor

"Say that again," Perry said.

"You heard me."

"Say it to my face, Rhett."

Rhett shoved him in the chest, and Perry went back a step with his hand on his ribs.

"That is enough."

The voice came from the windows.

It was thin and dry, and it cut the room in half.

My grandmother had pushed herself up in her chair with both hands on the arms.

"Rhett," she said. "Sit down."

"Grandmother, he's..."

"I have known my grandson Perry for twenty-two years. He has never touched a drug in his life, and you are a bully in a rented tuxedo."

Somebody laughed, and stopped.

Rhett stood where he was with his fists open.

"Counselor," my grandmother said over her shoulder.

Her lawyer stepped out from behind her chair.

"Madam."

"The folder."

He opened the briefcase and took out a thick blue folder.

He walked to the nearest table and laid it open in front of a donor, then another, then another.

"Every month for three years," the lawyer said, in a clear flat voice, "Mrs. Thornquist has paid for a medical test of her grandson Perry's blood, at a clinic of his choosing, on the grounds that he asked her to. Thirty-six results. All negative."

The donor in front of me turned a page and looked up.

"Why would he ask for that?" he said.

"I imagine," my grandmother said, "he was afraid of exactly this."

Perry closed his eyes.

His shoulders came down.

My father still stood at the head of the table with the ledger in his hand and his smile in place.

It had stopped reaching his eyes.

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